Megan Tower’s Design Blog

To me, it’s always interesting to see how other designers work and what their sketches look like. Now we can see what AMC’s Marketing Exec, Linda Schupack, did with sketches for the posters promoting the new series of “Mad Men.” You also get to see the progress up to it becoming the final poster.

I’ve noticed it as a widespread attack across YouTube…but not all of it is a bad attack, actually. Apple, one of the most recognizable logos in the world and now becoming one of the greatest companies in the world, is also one of the most parodied companies I’ve ever seen. Although many parodies are down by AfterEffects and Flash welding amateurs, comedy veterans like “Saturday Night Live” and Will Ferrell have even jumped in the fun.

It has been said that Weezer’s newest single, “Pork and Beans,” was written after the band met with label Geffen. Their label told them that they needed to write more mainstream and airwave-friendly music. Of course, this pissed off the band and they wrote a great song about following the crowd that brings Weezer back to “The Blue Album” and “Pinkerton.” Probably one of my favorite Weezer songs (and I’m a big Weezer fan).

But then you have the music video. To follow with the lyrics in the song, Weezer got ahold of many people who got their 15 minutes of fame on Youtube and used them in the video. This includes my personal Youtube favorite, the Mentos-and-Coke scientists, as well as Mr. Leave-Britney-Alone (Chris Crocker) as well as the All-Your-Base-Are-Belong-To-Us video game character and Charlie the Unicorn.

So pretty much every piece of a character has a name. There’s counters, serifs, cross bars, descenders…but what about that missing space in a stencil-like font?

Well, it now has a name. It’s called a “pylon.”

Although I wonder if this is supposed to be a joke. The endorsements aren’t very…uh…endors-y…and it could be considered a joke. However, I think that this could catch on whether they intend it to or not.

All in all, though, an interesting read and something to let your brain wrap around.

Okay, I think many people will say that the website isn’t the best they’ve ever seen. However, I’m not worried about that. I just really like that logo and how they use the visual identity. It’s clever, it’s clean, and it’s identifiable. And it’s really just green!

There’s apparently a chain of coffee shops running around the US called Puccino’s. I’ve personally never heard of it, but I wish I had. The designs they use for, well, everything in their shops is amazing. Typography in a hand-drawn-looking font that begs for you to read and smile.

Craig Ward is an amazing typographer. I recommend you all go visit his site for some beautiful type and some experimental stuff. I’m particularly in love with the “Good Typography is Invisible, Bad Typography is Everywhere” piece that’s in the screenshot above.